Weekly Feature

Brette Harrington leads an offwidth choked with ice and sugar snow in the vicinity of Pitch 9 on Riders on the Storm (VI 5.12d/5.13 A3, 1300m), Torre Central, Torres del Paine, Patagonia. She used a variety of tricks to make progress, including aid moves off her ice axes. [Photo] Drew Smith

Riding the Storm on Torre Central, Patagonia

by Mayan Smith-Gobat

Mayan Smith-Gobat returns to the Torres del Paine in Patagonia to attempt a complete free ascent of Riders on the Storm (VI 5.12d/5.13 A3, 1300m)… Read More »Riding the Storm on Torre Central, Patagonia

Mt. Mizugaki (2230m), one of the peaks featured in Kyya Fukada's 1964 classic, One Hundred Mountains of Japan, translated in 2014 by Martin Hood. "Can one describe this mountain as a medley of crags?" Fukada wrote. "It is not the only mountain with crags, but what is unique about Mizugaki is the way it mixes its crags with its trees." [Photo] Satoru Hagihara

On Belay: A Thousand Days of Lapis Lazuli

by Keita Kurakami

After ten years as a boulderer, Keita Kurakami attempts what some other local climbers called impossible: a new free route on the daunting 110-meter Moai… Read More »On Belay: A Thousand Days of Lapis Lazuli

Christ Healing the Blind, painted ca. 1657. Dawn L. Hollis observes: The image depicts the healing of two blind men recounted in Matthew 20:29-34. Their first sight will be of the mountainous vista that dominates the canvas. [Image] Philippe de Champaigne

Wired: Rethinking Mountain Gloom

by Dawn L. Hollis

Dawn L. Hollis challenges the belief in academia that people did not care for mountains until they began climbing them at the end of the… Read More »Wired: Rethinking Mountain Gloom

A Berec headlamp used by Martin Mushkin from the mid-1950s until 1980. [Photo] Michelle Hoffman

TOOL USERS: The Headlamp

by Paula Wright

In this Tool Users story from Alpinist 57, Paula Wright shines a light on the evolution of the headlamp. Since some climbers were still carrying… Read More »TOOL USERS: The Headlamp

A climber's bookcase. [Photo] Derek Franz

The Literature of Ascent

by Stephen Slemon

“Literary mountain writing may now be giving way to the selfie,” Stephen Slemon writes in this essay. “But this shift towards the visual media may… Read More »The Literature of Ascent

Full Value: Degringolade

by Sibylle Hechtel

In this Full Value story from Alpinist 56 Sibylle Hechtel recounts a pivotal moment in her climbing career–her first first-ascent, in Canada’s Bugaboos, 1973. She… Read More »Full Value: Degringolade

Lungaretse (5870m). [Photo] Camilo Lopez

On Belay: Unattached

by Anna Pfaff

In this On Belay article from Alpinist 57, Anna Pfaff describes her adventures as she becomes “unattached” from maps, expectations and conventions and learns to… Read More »On Belay: Unattached

[Image] Richard T. Walker. the fallibility of intent #1, 2015; cut-out archival pigment print; 32 x 48 in. Walker's work teeters between the humorous and melancholic, juxtaposing the sublime with what it means to be imperfect and ultimately human, wrote Amy Owen in a California Gatehouse Gallery brochure. Courtesy, Richard T. Walker

Off Belay: Beyond Conquest

by Mailee Hung

In this excerpt from Alpinist 57 Mailee Hung explores artwork by Richard T. Walker that “casts unease on traditional aspirations” and helps us consider “how… Read More »Off Belay: Beyond Conquest

Loulou Boulaz. In the 1930s, Boulaz was “the only woman in the race for the big north faces,” historian Rainer Rettner writes. “She was met with a lot of distrust by men.” [Photo] Sallie Greenwood

Local Hero: Loulou Boulaz

by Sallie Greenwood

During the 1930s, one woman joined the race to climb the feared north faces of the Alps, venturing into terrain then believed to be reserved… Read More »Local Hero: Loulou Boulaz

The north face of Kumbhakarna, above local settlements. Some names of local expedition workers are absent from written records. For a few in this article--Penuri, Ungati and Tumba--where we couldn't find other sources, we relied on climbers' memories, and it's possible the real names might be different. [Photo] Javier Camacho Gimeno

2017: Ghunsa

by Dawa Sherpa

Local guide Dawa Sherpa describes what it’s like to live and work near the base of Jannu/Kumbhakarna–a mountain sacred to his culture.

Valery Babanov on the alpine-style first ascent of the West Pillar (aka: "Magic Pillar"), with Sergey Kofanov, in 2007

2007: Open

by Sergey Kofanov

Russian alpinist Sergey Kofanov recounts his 2007 encounter with the “cosmic cold” shoulder of Jannu, when he and Valery Babanov made the first ascent of… Read More »2007: Open

A photo of Manhattan from the author. On the connection between the landscapes of the wild and Manhattan, Brown writes, I remember the poet John Haines looking at me like I was crazy when I told him I was leaving Homer to move to a big urban jungle. He shuddered and said, 'I don't know how you can do that.' But what Alaska and Manhattan had in common was, again, a kind of intensity. And the same river running through them both. [Photo] Chip Brown

Poetry Feature: Chip Brown

by Chip Brown

In an Alpinist exclusive poetry feature, award-winning outdoor writer Chip Brown imagines the landscape of the Yukon within the sounds of the city, and in… Read More »Poetry Feature: Chip Brown